Muggle Born Revenge
by HeRonFan
Summary: Ron and Hermione head to the Chamber of Secrets before the Battle of Hogwarts. A stepping stone to the kiss that came out of nowhere in DH


_**Muggle-Born Revenge: Ron and Hermione and The Chamber of Secrets**_

_**Disclaimer**__: All characters are the property of JK Rowling. _

_**Synopsis:**_

_Missing scene in Deathly Hallows. Ron and Hermione go to the Chamber of Secrets to get the Basilisk fangs just before the Battle for Hogwarts. A little lead up to the big kiss that is in the book. Note: Percy's return to the family is not yet known to Ron. _

Ron and Hermione watched as Harry and Luna went off to Ravenclaw Tower in search of the likeness of the Ravenclaw diadem. A small sinking feeling came over Hermione for a moment. It was the first time she, Ron and Harry had been separated from each other since the fight before Christmas. This time, however, it was a common goal that sent them in differing directions. This time it was Harry leaving, not Ron. She let herself look at Ron briefly and was reassured by his presence and a curt nod. The gesture told her they were on the same wavelength, and it was OK, they were moving forward, not being torn apart.

As they turned to face the rest of the room, they felt it before it even happened. Like a tidal wave, everyone left in the Room of Requirement turned towards them expectantly, wanting to talk to the remaining pair, wanting to know more of their adventures. After all, the news that their friends had broken into Gringott's and escaped on a dragon sounded exciting. There had to be more to tell. Now that Harry had gone, they thought they could get information out of his sidekicks.

"What all have you been doing? Have you been together all this time?" asked Parvatti?

"Yes, we've all been together the whole time," Ron answered. He caught Lavender Brown stiffen out of the corner of his eye. Merlin's beard, he thought. I don't have time to deal with this. He deliberately did not look at her.

Hermione looked at her former classmates politely, but dismissively. She had other ideas. She felt she had to keep working out the problems they had to overcome.

"We're really sorry, but we can't talk right now. It would be really nice to catch up, but there's a lot of work to do. We need to be ready for when Harry gets back."

She motioned to Ron to come over to a corner of the room to talk. Ron hesitated a moment. He searched the small crowd for his sister Ginny, and nodded at her. She smiled briefly at him and then turned to listen to Neville.

Neville had noticed the secretive look between Ron and Hermione that mirrored their earlier wordless communications with Harry. He decided to get everyone's attention and take the pressure off Ron and Hermione.

"OK, everyone," Neville commanded. "I'd say things have changed, to say the least. Harry is here." He stopped and scanned the room, meeting almost everyone's eyes to emphasize his point. "If the Death Eaters find out, invisibility cloak or not, I think we better get prepared just in case. Yes, we've been taught plenty of Dark Arts spells this year. I personally, don't want to sink to their level unless absolutely forced to. I prefer the protective way myself. We haven't used the defensive spells that Harry taught us in a long time. It's time to practise. First of all disarming then, patronuses, stunning, body binding, and…what else? Any suggestions?"

Hermione looked relieved that Neville had taken the pressure off them. As she walked to the corner with Ron, she looked back at her old friend and admired how he had taken control. Neville wore leadership well. However, she was uncomfortable at the thought they all felt a battle was imminent. That was the last thing they needed.

"Ron, what are we going to do? Even if Harry finds the diadem, how do we get rid of it? We haven't even gotten rid of the cup yet." (_DH_, p. 500) She shook her head in exasperation.

Ron nodded his head in agreement, his eyes looking past her, around the room watching to see that no one was close enough to hear the conversation. He noticed Padma Patil come out of the bathroom. His memory triggered; the diary Horcrux swam into his head, Ginny's possession, kidnapping, and finally the destruction of the dangerous book into which Voldemort had placed part of his soul. It had all happened five years ago in the Chamber of Secrets and the entrance was the girls' bathroom on the second floor.

"We need Basilisk fangs," he said matter-of-factly.

"What?" questioned Hermione.

"Basilisk fangs, there are still some in the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets." The solution seemed obvious to him.

"Yes, but Ron, how would we get in there? You need to speak Parseltongue, and the only one who can speak that besides You-Know-Who, is Harry. Who knows when he'll be back?" Hermione said dejectedly.

Ron concentrated, trying to remember exactly what Harry had said to open the locket back in the Forest of Dean. His talent for mimicry had come in handy in escaping Malfoy Manor Maybe he could do it again, he thought. A horrible hissing noise escaped him. He looked at Hermione. "Do you think it will pass?" he said hopefully.

She returned his gaze in utter astonishment, her mouth opening in shock. "What did you just do?" she said incredulously and mildly frightened at the same time.

"Well, if I remembered it right, I just said "open" in Parseltongue. It's what Harry said to open the locket." He hoped he had it right.

"Oh, my God! Ron! Brilliant!" She seized his arms momentarily. The others in the room looked over curiously. "Do you realize what this means? We can get rid of the cup! And the diadem if Harry finds it! And oh!..."

She was motioning and numbering off the list with her fingers now, excited, and agitated. She walked a few feet away and began to pace, looking back at Ron. She ignored the funny but interested looks directed at her from the rest of the DA. Thinking aloud to herself, she began working out their problem.

"OK, how do we get all the way across the castle to the second floor girl's bathroom without being noticed?

"Shhh." Ron admonished as he saw Ginny look over. Damn, he wished he could take some time and talk to her. It had been so long. He caught her eye again and smiled at her. She smiled back and returned her attention to Neville.

"Oh, sorry. OK, Neville said the doorway opens at all different places so there's no way of knowing where we'd end up if we went out that way. We can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. What we really need it a Portkey. We need a Portkey! We need a Portkey!" She repeated it in urgency and the Room of Requirement answered her anxious plea.

Suddenly, a red quaffle ball appeared out of nowhere. Around it emanated a blue glow. She and Ron looked at each other in amazement.

"Let's go. On three," he said, grabbing Hermione's hand. "One, two, three," Ron said. They both touched the quaffle ball portkey, and they were gone.

Lavender Brown eyed her former boyfriend. Ron was obviously not sick. He had been with _her_. Hurt and anger had steeled over her, yet she knew she had no right to feel this way. They had broken up; she had done the breaking up. But she still cared for him. Keeping her attention on the goings on of the DA had been difficult with him back. Then she saw her former boyfriend take hold of Hermione Granger's hand and disappear. She never really had a chance, she thought. She knew it all along, but acceptance was only truly coming to her now. She never saw Ron look at her with eyes that radiated respect and caring, or excitement for that matter. She had been right about Hermione, she thought smugly for an instant. Then she shook her head. She looked at the spot in the Room of Requirement where they had disappeared from and grudgingly hoped he would be happy. Then she turned away to join the avid discussions and planning going on with the remaining people in the room. Each secretly hoped not to have to actually use the defensive spells, while at the same time they had all suffered at Hogwarts this past year. Inside them burned a desire for justice, if not revenge.

Ron and Hermione entered the girls' lavatory in what felt like an unceremonious drop from the ceiling between the row of toilet stalls and the sinks opposite them. The quaffle ball rolled away as they appeared out of nowhere, their hands parting as they tried to break their fall. Hermione moaned, glad they had stayed a full month at Shell Cottage for her injuries to heal after the torture at Malfoy Manor. She seemed to be adding to the count, she thought, as she hit her head against a stall door.

"You OK?" Ron asked concerned.

"Yeah. Remind me to ask your dad how to exit a Portkey gracefully," she said, as she rubbed her head and spat hair from her mouth.

He smiled awkwardly. He really should give his dad more credit, he thought. Arthur was a hard working member of the Ministry, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and a great father. A pang of guilt hit Ron for a moment as he thought of how hard his dad worked to raise a family of seven kids on just his salary. Right now, he couldn't work at all due to the family's assistance and protection of Harry Potter and Muggle-borns. Ron had resented their financial status so often, but during this past year, he realized how much it didn't matter as long as everyone in the family was happy and healthy, and above all, safe. Percy came to mind for a second and Ron blocked it out. No time to start dealing with a brother who had disowned the family. Focus. He looked ahead toward the sought after sink as he reached to help Hermione up.

"Bowling for Myrtle now, is it?" hissed Moaning Myrtle's ghost from the toilet she haunted where she had been killed 55 years earlier. She moved through the door to see who had interrupted her contemplation of her death with a quaffle ball.

"Sorry Myrtle. That was an accident. We didn't have much control when we landed, as you can see," Hermione said as she continued rubbing her head where a bump was forming rapidly.

"Yeah, sorry Myrtle. We hope to be out of your way quickly," added Ron.

Myrtle looked the pair over and eyed them suspiciously. "Where's Harry Potter? You were always with him when you came in before," she commented. "And the last time I saw him he tried to kill that boy!" she said nervously looking about.

"That was an accident. He didn't know what the spell did and he used it without thinking in the heat of the moment," Ron said defensively. "Anyway, he's looking for something in the castle," he replied quickly not knowing why he bothered.

"What are _you_ doing here? No one comes in here," she said.

"We need to get into the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione as politely as she could. Quickly she thought of a backup plan in case Myrtle became difficult and alerted anyone to their presence. She could tell Myrtle they and Harry would be trying to bring to justice the person who was responsible for killing her all those years ago. That might appease her. She hoped it would not be necessary.

"Well, if you die down there, you'd be welcome to share the bathroom with me. It would be nice to have someone to talk to," said Myrtle, looking directly at Hermione. Myrtle seemed to read the annoyed look on Ron's face though he tried to conceal it. "But you're not!" She huffed back into her toilet in a flip through the air above the stall causing water to overflow to their feet.

Ron rolled his eyes, glad Myrtle was gone so they could get down to business. Hermione's shoulders relaxed in relief. They walked over to the sink and looked at the tap with the snake emblazoned on the side; the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Well, it's up to you, Ron," said Hermione.

"Thanks, no pressure," he said sarcastically. He opened his mouth to try the serpentine language when a cold voice suddenly reverberated from all around them.

"I know that you are preparing to fight," said Voldemort. (_DH_, p. 490)

Ron started and jumped back a foot. Hermione clambered closer to him and held on to his arm in terror. Their faces drained of colour as they listened in rapt fear. Hermione was shaking. She was gripping his arm so tightly it hurt. He covered her hand with his and squeezed.

"Your efforts are futile," continued the Dark Lord. "You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded."

"You have until midnight." (_DH_, p. 490)

They stood frozen to the floor for a moment, their eyes wide contemplating what had just happened.

Hermione whispered softly in fear, "Harry."

Ron looked at her. "Hermione, they won't give him up. They wouldn't! Now the whole castle knows he's here. McGonagall, she would never allow it. She's in the Order. And Neville, he's kept the DA going. They won't do it. Look how they've been treated here under his orders. They won't do it," he said emphatically.

Having been on the receiving end of such hatred purely for her blood status, Hermione wasn't so sure. "The Slytherins, they would," she whispered.

"Yeah, they might just, but the other three houses wouldn't. Remember the DA. Three houses united together to learn defense against these nutters. To learn from Harry; the Chosen One to end all this! They won't let him go even if he tries to give himself up."

"Oh my God, Ron! He would do that!" Her eyes full of fear, she continued. "If You-Know-Who is here, then every Death Eater will be called here too, and Harry would try to stop a fight!"

"No, not until he's got the diadem at least. He knows he's got a job to do and so do we. It won't matter if fighting starts or not. There won't be a way to end it unless he finds the diadem. And we need to be able to destroy it. Now come on." His voice was commanding and strong and it steadied her. He knew he needed a calm Hermione with him, or he would be useless at the task of opening the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione stared at him a moment and then nodded her acceptance and understood she had to keep him focused and not worried about her.

He took a step toward the sink again, determined to get this done. He let out a hiss. Nothing. Hermione looked at him with disappointment etching across her face as she bit her lip. He tried again, changing the inflection slightly. Nothing.

"Don't rush. Just close your eyes and concentrate on how Harry sounded back in the forest and _when you are ready_, give it a try," she encouraged.

Ron closed his eyes and took a moment to concentrate back on that horrible experience, shaking aside the torture the locket had put him through after it opened. He had to do this. He tried to concentrate for a moment on something good: the excitement in Hermione's face, how she lit up when he first tried Parseltongue back in the Room of Requirement, the potential of what they could do for this war was enormous. He had to do this. A moment later, he took a deep breath and let out a horrible hissing snarl.

The sink opened up at his last command, revealing a large pipe in the floor. Hermione was wide eyed, having never actually seen the Chamber entrance open up before. Ron was just as surprised that he actually succeeded using Parseltongue. Hermione was shaking her head in both disbelief and amazement, her heart was racing. She looked at Ron, speechless; her eyes were literally shining at him. She seemed to be turning pink, he thought. No one had ever looked at him with that kind of admiration before. It was intoxicating.

"You did it!" she said as she flung her arms around his neck, hugging him. He was only too pleased to return the embrace. As they began to part, their eyes met for an awkward moment. She was smiling so brightly, he had difficulty hiding his feelings for her in that moment. A need to protect her rose up in him.

"OK, you stay here. I'll go and…" Ron never got to finish his sentence. He was trying to be chivalrous.

"No way!" The hug broke as she released him in defiance. "Look, just because I'm a girl, doesn't make me…" Hermione had begun to argue. But Ron cut her off, his hand slicing through the air as if to sever the invisible voice, a look on his face that she couldn't quite decide if it was anger or fear. Then he swore and she backed up a step, in shock and incomprehension.

"Damn it, Hermione! It's not because you're a girl!" he said angrily. Why didn't she understand? He paused and took a deep breath. Hermione watched him uncertainly. He seemed to be wrestling with himself. Then his features softened as he looked her straight in the eyes, anguish crossing his face, the muscle in his jaw contorting slightly. He swallowed. Then he continued in a low but deliberate voice, his hand coming up to caress her face. "It's because you're _the_ girl."

His voice was soft, but his eyes never strayed from hers as he revealed his heart. Hermione's mouth opened in shock. She wondered how on earth she was able to stand when her legs abruptly felt hollow and shaky. Ron took a step towards her, as he simultaneously pulled her close. Suddenly, her heart was racing as he was bending his head down to hers, his lips barely apart from hers as she tilted her head up invitingly and opened her mouth to his in anticipation of...

CRASH!

The castle was shaking. An explosion on the other side of the wall of the lavatory shook the room and pieces of ceiling came crashing down. All of a sudden, Ron was grabbing Hermione, moving her against the far wall and covering her with his body, shielding her from the falling debris. Hermione screamed and tucked herself into his arching, protective frame and clung to him.

"Bloody hell!" He looked her over with concern, "You alright?"

She nodded, "You?"

"Yeah. What the hell happened to the midnight deadline?" he asked the air angrily. Through the broken window he could see a giant walking away from the castle in a rather angry mood. "I think we better get moving," he said as he surveyed the damage to the bathroom. He looked down at the abyss of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets at their feet, remembering their mission had to come first or there might never be a chance for them anyway. Worriedly, he looked at Hermione and then their ruined surroundings. Leaving her here might be just as dangerous and they needed each other to watch each other's backs. He conceded, "Together?" She nodded.

He held out his hand to her and she took it. They jumped together into the dark depths below. He remembered the uncomfortable initial section of tunnel that was a 90 degree angle straight down. They hit the curve of the tunnel, lost their grip on each other, and then began the uncontrolled slide the rest of the way through the dust and dirt of centuries, landing in a thud; Ron on his back with Hermione landing on top of him. His arms came up reflexively to grab her and try to cushion her fall. She was in his arms, but not quite the circumstance he had imagined barely a moment earlier. Awkwardly, they looked at each other but could not read the other's face in the darkness.

"Sorry," she said. An earlier fall on to Harry when they entered the tunnel under the Whomping Willow came to mind briefly. His arms were around her as she lay on him, his hands on her back. Her heart was racing as she realized she was memorizing the feel of him, everywhere there was contact between them. She wasn't as quick to get off of Ron as she had been with Harry four years prior.

"Don't mention it." She moved to roll off him and they both began getting up. Ron, getting to his feet first, held his hand out to her to help her up. She sensed his hand in the darkness and reached for it. "We seem to fall down a lot!" he grinned, thinking of their Portkey entrance. He didn't let go of her hand as they began to get their bearings. She did not object. Ron began to turn red.

"_Lumos_," they both said and the tips of their wands ignited to give them light to walk by.

They looked around, noticing all the bones beneath their feet and moved forward through the tunnel. Hermione had never seen the entrance-way to the Chamber of Secrets. She was disgusted as she noticed the gigantic, shed snake skins.

"Oh, I'm so glad it wasn't me who had to come down here before when the Basilisk was alive," she said disgustedly. Hermione was just now realising how brave Harry and Ron had been when they had descended into the unknown to save Ginny five years earlier.

"Suddenly, being petrified doesn't seem that bad compared to what you two did." She squeezed his hand in gratitude and renewed admiration for their effort. Their eyes locked for a moment. Ron's ears began to turn red. They continued onwards, approaching the rock fall.

"That's where I knocked out Professor Lockhart. I still can't believe I did that—the stupid git," he said, shaking his head. "And this," he said as he helped Hermione through, "is the opening I cleared for Harry and Ginny to get back afterwards. Dumbledore's phoenix, got us out through an opening up in the rock cut, just over there." He pointed in the direction they were walking. They continued until they found the entrance to the Chamber. Again Ron spoke the ophidian word open, this time to unlock the wall with the entwined serpent's heads to the chamber, lined with cobra styled pillars on either side of the long hollowed out cavern. As they entered, flames lit up their way.

"_Nox_," they chimed together.

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed as she and Ron both extinguished their wands. "It's really quite impressive. I wonder what Slytherin used it for way back then, or what he intended to use it for, and You-Know-Who too for that matter. It seems too majestic just…to keep a… big snake in." Her last words came out slowly as her mind went to work. Why had she never thought this through before?

The thought actually gave her the creeps when she considered his pureblood mania and how Slytherin probably converted more to his thinking but would have had to have done it secretly. The other three school founders would never have supported this. Suddenly, the Chamber took on a new meaning to her; one of fanaticism, and blind unyielding supremacy. The thought disgusted her and made her angry at his bigotry. Wouldn't it enrage him to know that a Mudblood was walking in his sacred meeting place? The final thought made her smirk smugly, righteously. She squeezed Ron's hand tighter for a second, thinking of all the times he was the first to defend her against such foul verbal assaults from Slytherins such as Draco Malfoy.

He looked down at her but was unable to read what the squeeze meant. The expression on her face was distant. He could tell the wheels were turning behind those beautiful eyes, and they weren't happy thoughts.

"What is it?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

She nodded deceptively. "Just…oh, I'll tell you later. We should keep focused."

He studied her a moment. She was not alright. "I'm going to hold you to that. OK?"

She nodded, uncomfortably. If there was anyone she could talk about this with, it was Ron. He and his family were the greatest open advocates for Muggle-borns she had ever met. But, they had to destroy the cup first. A talk about morality could get too emotional for her she thought, and time was against them.

Ron took in the site in front of him as well. He hadn't really looked around much before when he was there. They had just wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

The gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin was carved in the rock just ahead of them and to the right, the skeletal remains of the Basilisk. He grimaced, remembering the first time he saw it when the head was still covered with skin and there had been blood all over it from its gouged out eyes thanks to Fawkes. It had now been decomposing for five years.

"It seems so long ago. Humph, the diary was the first Horcrux and none of us knew it at the time. Well, except Dumbledore, I guess."

They approached the Basilisk and began wrenching out its fangs. They came out surprisingly easy though the job itself was still disgusting to them. They had amassed as many as they could and then Ron took the Hufflepuff cup from his jacket and set it down before them on the wet floor.

"Ladies first," he said.

"What?"

"I think you should do it—your turn to destroy a part of that bastard's soul. It's only right. I got the locket, you should do this one."

She looked at Ron incredulously and then gingerly took hold of the fang he held out to her and stabbed the inside of the cup with it. Ron, wand at the ready, had braced himself for something awful to happen. Hermione did not notice him raise his wand in defence.

Blood squirted out from seemingly nowhere. Wherever Hermione's hand touched the edge of the cup though, she was burned. The pain made her angry and she stabbed it over and over again, harder with each blow as if mesmerized by the action. She poured out every ounce of pain and hatred in her into each blow until finally the cup stopped bleeding and stopped burning.

Ron watched her curiously and with apprehension. He had been on the end of those blows once, he remembered. Her face, however, was contorted with a malevolence that he had never seen before.

"Are you OK?" He hadn't expected anything psychological to happen to her since they never wore the cup, but as he watched her anger mount as she destroyed it, he had begun to wonder.

Hermione looked up at Ron, a pained, disgusted look on her face that he had not expected to see.

"Am I any better than they are?" she said, self-deprecatingly.

"What are you talking about?" He was shaking his head.

I…How do I say this? When I entered this Chamber I began thinking about what it was probably used for; Salazar Slytherin's meeting place for pro-purebloods. Ron, can you imagine the chants, the songs, the sermons of self-aggrandizement, how superior those in attendance would consider themselves compared to everyone else?" She looked back at the cup, relieved at the same time as being disgusted with herself for succumbing to the type of hatred that Voldemort and Slytherin symbolized. "It's scary how much hatred can be inside you and you don't even know it. Am I any better? Look how I reacted. Look how it took over me," she finished uncomfortably.

"The fact that you are asking that means yes, absolutely. I sort of think it just desserts for Slytherin then." He looked at her with a mischievous glint in his eye, "Having a Muggle-born—in this very room, destroying a part of his heir's soul."

Ron reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "As for your reaction, I know exactly what you mean. When I destroyed the locket, it really affected me, in the head. It was as bad as wearing the damn thing, maybe worse." Anger at the memory crossed his face and his head shook negatively ever so slightly as he met her questioning gaze. "If you're going to ask about it, please don't. I'm not ready to talk about it. I don't think I will be for a long time." He looked away from her, making sure he was composed before he met her gaze again.

Concern for him welled up inside her. A grimace crossed her face as she remembered the night he came back to her and Harry after their long separation; the night he had destroyed the locket. They had told her nothing happened except that it had screamed. Obviously, something more had happened, something terrible and they hadn't confided in her. For a second she became indignant that they had not shared with her the whole scenario. Then as she watched Ron she realized he was trying to maintain some sort of calm. He had been shaken somehow, and the memory still bothered him more than four months later.

She reached for his arm and when he looked back, she said encouragingly, "One more Horcrux down!"

They both looked at the mangled cup and smiles spread across their faces and they began to laugh in an almost sinister, satisfied way.

"I wonder how Harry is doing. We'd better get back," she said.

"Yeah, right," he agreed. Ron put the cup in the inside pocket of his jacket. Together they began collecting the Basilisk fangs.

"OK. How do we get out? We can't climb up that tunnel holding all these fangs. I suppose we could levitate them up and follow them up, but I'm afraid of what condition the girls' bathroom is going to be in by now," said Hermione.

Just as she finished another blast hit somewhere above them. As they moved towards the crevice through which Fawkes had taken Ron, Harry, Ginny and Lockhart out, they could hear more of the battle going on above.

"Too bad we didn't think of bringing the Portkey down here," said Hermione despite knowing that it was probably only a one way trip apparatus considering its origin.

As they neared the tunnel exit, they discovered more carnage from the fight that had started above them. The passageway seemed blocked.

Hermione looked at Ron with concern. How would they get out? Then her eyes widened and she flourished her wand, "_Exit revelio!_"

A magical barrier revealed itself as the illusion it was. Hermione shrugged. "It was worth a try."

"Brilliant!" said Ron, and they headed for the opening to the surface above. Hermione beamed at his compliment.

"Well, no stairs or anything, I guess we just levitate ourselves out, but then we'll have to make a run for it to get back to the Room of Requirement and find Harry and the others," he warned.

"OK. You know, I've never levitated _myself_ before," she said.

"First time for everything. But, why don't we levitate each other instead. Let's keep wands at the ready and be prepared to duck and run when we reach the surface. Be careful," he cautioned. "And remember, it's Levi-O-sa, not Levio-SA," he smirked.

"Hmmph. You're never going to let me off for that, are you?" she said embarrassed and mildly annoyed.

"Just one last dig! Consider yourself let off now," he said as he winked at her.

Together they chanted "_Wingardium Leviosa_" as they flourished their wands at each other and rose up out of the Chamber of Secrets. It was the first spell he had learned in Charms class. The memory of her correcting him was a pleasant one now, as he thought of how long he had known Hermione and how much had changed since then.

They appeared among the shoreline of trees on the far side of the lake. The forest gave them additional cover in the darkness. They looked back at where they had just emerged from, but could not see any opening to the Chamber below. They turned their attention to getting back to the castle in one piece and telling Harry the good news.

Ron and Hermione sneaked through the edge of the forest, moving from tree to tree. They walked as silently as possible until Hermione felt something odd under her foot.

"Huh!" she gasped as she looked down to see her right foot on the hand of one of their fellow students, a Ravenclaw, whom she knew by sight but not name. He had been in one of her Ancient Runes classes. His eyes were wide open, but saw nothing. He was dead. They looked about them. There did not seem to be any other bodies, or wounded near them. Apparently, he had tried to be a hero and gone out into the forest on his broomstick. The object lay only a few feet away from his body.

She jumped back, dropping a fang, and nestled into Ron for a moment as she calmed herself. Ron dropped the Basilisk fangs in his right hand to put his arm around her and steady her. "Merlin's beard!" he swore. This was probably the first casualty of the war. They looked around but saw no one moving in the immediate vicinity. Blasts from the castle were echoing across the lake. Windows were shattering and a scream echoed in the air from the distance.

"Hermione, this is going to sound awful, but we need that broomstick," he whispered as he continued to look around them, afraid they would be attacked at any moment.

She looked horror struck for a moment, and then nodded her head.

"Can you manage another fang or two if I hold on to the broom? Put the fangs between us so you can hold on to me with one arm at least. I think we had better get back as quick as possible. Just, do it _carefully_, OK."

She nodded. Ron put two fangs inside his jacket with the cup, his pocket now overflowing, and mounted the broom. He held out a hand to Hermione to help her on. She inched up right behind him, squeezing Ron's last two fangs carefully between them as she wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her face in his back. She shut her eyes tight and held her breath.

"Ready?" he called back to her.

"As I'll ever be," she replied nervously.

"This is going to be as fast as I can manage with you on, OK? So hold tight. Let's go." They sped off into the castle undetected to reunite with Harry.

14


End file.
